“iPhone nano” rumor comes back to life, now with $200 unsubsidized price tag

Remember those iPhone nano rumors that have been circulating since 2007? They …

Rumors about the "iPhone nano," a smaller version of Apple's iconic iPhone, go back to before the iPhone even existed. We haven't heard much about it in recent months, but that's about to change thanks to a new rumor out of Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The publication claims that Apple is still working on a shrunken-down version of the iPhone that would retail for $200 without any kind of subsidy or contract.

Bloomberg cited "people who have been briefed on the plans" as the source of the information, claiming that at least one person had seen a prototype. The phone is allegedly about one third smaller than the current iPhone 4, and it will use components that are contained within the current model, helping Apple cut costs while it puts the pricier parts into the as-yet-unannounced iPhone 5.

The miniature iPhone is supposedly slated for launch mid-year but, as always, the sources claim that Apple's plans could change at any time and it may even be scrapped.

Two other sources said that Apple is also working on offering iPhones that can be used on both CDMA and GSM networks. A recent teardown of the CDMA iPhone 4 meant for Verizon showed that it could have been dual-mode if Apple wanted it to be, but the lack of a SIM card slot meant that it was relegated to being CDMA only. Apple is expected to begin using dual-mode chips in the next-generation iPhone, though, which would allow the company to offer just one iPhone model that works on networks everywhere in the world. Whether the dual-mode tech would make its way into the rumored smaller iPhone wasn't specified.

The fact that this rumor and various "leaks" associated with it have existed for so long—since at least 2007—fuels the belief that Apple has at least been experimenting with such an idea for a while. Apple experiments with many products that don't ever see the light of day, though, so we'll stick with our usual mantra for now: we'll believe it when we see it.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui